By GustavoLeao / 11:21, 24 January 2013 / Star Trek: Nemesis

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StarTrek.com posted a new interview with Star Trek Countdown to Darkness writers Roberto Orci (who oversaw the comic book mini series) and Mike Johnson and here are excerpts.

Give us some sense of the story. What can readers expect to read and see on the pages?

Orci:  Whereas the original Countdown was more of a farewell to the previous timeline, we really wanted this story to look forward. The 2009 movie established the characters and their relationships, and now the adventure begins immediately.

Johnson:  Rather than showing back story this time, we are really setting the table for the next movie here in ways that the original Countdown couldn’t because we hadn’t met the new Kirk and Spock yet. The scope is a big as the last series, but this one is full of things we haven’t seen yet in the new timeline, all leading into the mind-blowing events of the next movie.

Will we meet any new characters that show up in film? Will this end as the movie begins? Is the story tied directly to film or in a more thematic way? In other words, how of a piece is it with the new film?

Johnson:  We can’t answer without giving anything away, but I can tease you by saying that a character we have not yet seen in the new timeline shows up in Issue #1 and plays a critical role in the story. The mini-series will flow directly into the next movie, in the same way that the original Countdown did.

Bob, what's the overall writing/story philosophy for non-film Trek endeavors in the J.J.-verse. What's the approach?

Orci:  The approach is to ignore the medium and focus on the story. Don’t make a distinction between comic and film and anything else -- and just focus on making it Star Trek.

Is there anything in the other Trek comics related to the film that we may have missed already?

Johnson:  There are bunch of little hints that we’ve put in the ongoing Star Trek comics series that Bob is overseeing. None of them are the kind of thing that can spoil anything in the movie, but the idea is that, like the original Countdown, you can go back and read them and say “Hey! They totally set that up in the comics months before!” It’s been sneaky fun putting them in there.

How canon is this?

Orci:  We get asked that a lot, and it’s our understanding that canon is that which is filmed. As a strict Constitutionalist, I don’t support a change in the definition of canon during my tenure. Perhaps future courts can take up the issue, but in the meantime the comics are as close to canon as you can get without being on film.

The ffull interview is here.